The present invention relates to methods, materials and kits for reducing cellular damage in mammals and, more particularly, to methods and materials and kits for protecting against injurious environmental stresses and their damaging effects on DNA and cellular structure, function, and growth. Kits discussed herein comprise combinations of oral and topical dosage forms.
Free radicals, or reactive oxygen species (“ROS”) and other oxidizing species (“OOS”) are thought to contribute to the development and progression of a variety of diseases or other abnormal conditions of the human body, ranging from skin conditions to cancer and cardiovascular disease. Increasingly, free radicals and their metabolites are being implicated in tissue injuries that lead to the initiation and/or promotion of multistage carcinogenesis.
The ROS species include superoxide (O2-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), peroxy radicals (HO2 and RO2) alkyl peroxide (R2O2), hydroxyl radical (.OH), alkoxy radical (.OR), and singlet oxygen. The OOS species include hypohalous acids (HOX) (where X is chloride, bromide, iodide), Z-amines (where Z is either chlorinated or ammoniated amine containing compounds, nitric oxide (NO), ammonia, cyclooxygenase, phospholipase A2, phospholipase C and transition metals.
Each of the ROS, directly or acting as an intermediate, are thought to act on various parts of cells through the cell membrane to adversely impact the human body. In view of the suspected causative or contributory role played by free radicals and their metabolites in the development and growth of cancerous cells, antioxidants and free radical scavengers have emerged as potential prophylactics for the prevention of cancer.
For reasons including reduced cost, increased bioavailability, and potentially reduced toxicity, it would be generally preferable to employ antioxidants and free radical scavengers or inhibitors obtained from natural sources, as opposed to specialty chemicals prepared synthetically, as prophylactics in therapies aimed at preventing or inhibiting the growth of cancerous cells. In addition, it would be desirable to identify naturally occurring antioxidants and free radical scavengers or inhibitors that exhibit high efficacy and potency in inhibiting the growth of free radical species both topically (e.g., at a region of skin, such as a portion of the hands or face, routinely subjected to potentially carcinogenic environmental stimuli) as well as systemically (e.g., inside the body, such as in an internal organ).